So, after a long delay, the music theme on the blog continues, this time with Part 2 of My Favorite Movie Soundtracks. Part 1 focused on soundtracks where the characters actually sang the songs on screen. The list this week consists of movies just full of great songs which play on the soundtrack. Think The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, that kind of thing.
This soundtrack series will finish off with Part 3, which will only include instrumental tracks, but not those composed by John Williams since he already had his own list!
My Favorite Movie Soundtracks, in alphabetical order:
Almost Famous
Considering it's a movie about music, it just makes sense that the soundtrack of Almost Famous is so wonderful. All of director's Cameron Crowe's films have great soundtracks - I've read that he often starts with the music and builds the scenes around them and sometimes you can really tell - but it was no question as to which one would make this list. Almost Famous is a nearly perfect movie and the music plays a huge part of the appeal. Legendary groups like Simon & Garfunkel, Led Zeppelin, The Beach Boys, The Who, and Lynyrd Skynyrd combine with solo artists like Rod Stewart, Nancy Wilson, Cat Stevens, and David Bowie to create a mix that thoroughly captures the 70's feel of the film. The band within the movie, Stillwater, also adds to the fantastic soundtrack with "Fever Dog". Of course, Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" is part of probably the most famous scene. Every time I hear the song on the radio, I immediately think of Almost Famous and I'm sure plenty of other people do as well. At this point, I don't think it's overstating things to consider the scene "iconic".
Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump is not a good movie. I know plenty of people love it and it won a boatload of awards, plus it earned hundreds of millions of dollars, but I strongly believe it's in the running as one of the most overrated movies in history. The soundtrack is superb, though, there's no denying that. It's pretty much a Greatest Hits collection of the 50's, 60's, and 70's popular music scene. From Elvis to Fleetwood Mac. From Aretha Franklin to Willie Nelson. From The Doors to Jackson Browne. From Bob Dylan to Creedence Clearwater Revival. The impressive scope of the soundtrack is just staggering. At one point, I owned the two CD set, but I realized it wasn't anything I ever really wanted to listen to, mostly because all of these songs are so well known and so ubiquitous that you could tune your radio (or Pandora or Spotify) to an oldies station and probably hear 50% of the soundtrack in the first hour or two of songs. The songs work well in the movie, though, because they help place you at a very particular point of time in a very quick fashion.
Goodfellas
Martin Scorsese is a master filmmaker for quite a few different reasons, but his ability to compile a soundtrack full of tremendous music is certainly one of them. Another of his films, The Departed, almost made this list, too, but I decided to limit it to only one Scorsese in an effort to highlight different movies. The Goodfellas soundtrack is probably best known for the thrilling montage of grizzly violence set to "Layla" by Derek and the Dominos. It's a tremendous song (originally released on one of my all-time favorite albums, "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs") and is such a polar opposite of what's happening on screen that it creates a perfect little moment of film history. The rest of the soundtrack includes standout tracks from The Chantels, The Shangri-Las, Cream, Bobby Darin, Muddy Waters, and Tony Bennett. None of the songs are violent or profane, two adjectives commonly used to describe Goodfellas, and that contrast is part of the soundtrack's charm. The music sets a certain tone and the movie goes in the exact opposite direction.
Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 1
Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 1 is one of the most fun movies in recent memory and a big part of that is the exciting and energetic soundtrack. The movie starts out with "Come and Get Your Love" and never really lets up. Toe tapping hits like "Spirit in the Sky", "I Want You Back", "Hooked on a Feeling", "Escape (the Pina Colada Song)", and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" are sprinkled in throughout. "Cherry Bomb" by The Runaways might be my favorite song from the movie, though, somewhat due to how much I love the scene in which it plays. The montage of the Guardians getting ready to go kick some ass is just so much fun. Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 was also on my shortlist of candidates for this list. That soundtrack is nearly as great overall and might actually have some higher highs, but I decided to give the edge to the original and my favorite movie from the MCU.
A Hard Day's Night
I'll be honest with you - I've only seen A Hard Day's Night once, almost 15 years ago, and didn't love the movie. At this point, I barely remember any of the plot or scenes. The Beatles are one of my favorite bands, though, and the music on this soundtrack is first rate stuff. The title track would probably make my Top 10 Beatles songs if I were ever to make such a list and considering their legendary output, that's saying a lot. Two other number one hits - "Can't Buy Me Love" and "She Loves You" - are standouts, as well, but I'm partial to "If I Fell" and "Tell Me Why". The Beatles are the rare group that grew and transformed so many times in their relatively short time together and the soundtrack for A Hard Day's Night is like a perfect snapshot of that particular year. I should probably give the movie another chance one of these years as I think I'd probably enjoy it more this time around.
High Fidelity
Another movie about music, High Fidelity really had to have a killer soundtrack. Nick Hornby's novel is my favorite book and I've read it every year or so for the last 20 years. I've only seen the movie twice - the first time I hated it and the second time I thought it was just okay - but the music remains intriguing. Most of the soundtrack consists of songs from artists I'm not really familiar with, but the stuff from The Velvet Underground, The Kinks, Royal Tux, and Stereolab makes me want to dive deeper into their work. Elvis Costello and Stevie Wonder are also featured, but the songs aren't huge hits of theirs so they were new to me. Even the Bob Dylan track, "Most of the Time", isn't something I remember hearing before and I've spent hundreds of hours listening to Dylan's music over the years. All in all, the soundtrack mostly feels like something a snobby record store employee would pick out - good songs, but making sure not to include anything too popular - and I'm sure this was done on purpose to resonate with the characters from the movie. Jack Black is an actor I'm usually indifferent towards at best, but he's easily my favorite part of movie and has two very memorable music moments. The first, when he rocks out to "Walking on Sunshine" for a brief moment before getting shutdown highlights Black's manic, explosive energy. The second, near the end of the movie, is when he covers Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On". It's a surprisingly well done version of the soulful hit and it might be the highlight of the whole movie.
I Am Sam
By far the worst movie on this list, I Am Sam has very, very few redeeming qualities. It's treacly and over the top with a hilariously bad lead performance from Sean Penn. But... the music is wonderful. The entire soundtrack is comprised of Beatles covers from an assortment of talented and surprising artists. Standout tracks include "Black Bird" by Sarah McLachlan, "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" by Eddie Vedder, "Let It Be" by Nick Cave, and "Across the Universe" by Rufus Wainwright. Aimee Mann, Sheryl Crow, The Wallflowers, Ben Harper, and The Black Crowes all have interesting covers, as well. Are any of these versions better than the Beatle's originals? No, but that's a tough standard to meet. Is it worth watching I Am Sam just to hear these songs? Again, no. But I would recommend buying the album or, at the very least, checking them out on YouTube.
Juno
This is definitely the soundtrack that I've listened to the most. I love Juno as a movie and owned the soundtrack album, so I've probably heard all the songs dozens of times and I never got bored with them. Kimya Dawson is a major contributor, responsible for almost 25% of the tracks on the official soundtrack album. Dawson has a very unique voice and songs like "So Nice So Smart", "Tire Swing", and "Loose Lips" create a complimentary throughline for the album. Groups like The Kinks, The Velvet Underground, Belle and Sebastian, MOTT the Hoople, and The Moldy Peaches all have memorable songs as well, but my favorite track is definitely Sonic Youth's wonderous cover of "Superstar". It's an eerie, atmospheric take on a classic song and it instantly grabbed me when I first saw the movie in the theater and I've returned to it over and over again for the last 15 years.
Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino is one of my favorite filmmakers and all of his films feature wonderful soundtracks. It's maybe no coincidence that his best film also has the best soundtrack, as music can play such an instrumental part of movies. "Misirlou" by Dick Dale blares over the opening credits and is probably best associated with the movie at this point, almost to the point of being its theme. The song, for me at least, conjures thoughts of California surfers and sets the tone for a cool, laid back movie. After the opening, the rest of the 2.5 hours is filled with memorable songs like "Let's Stay Together" by Al Green, "You Never Can Tell" by Chuck Berry, "Jungle Boogie" by Kool & the Gang, and "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" by Urge Overkill. My two favorites tracks are probably "Son of a Preacher Man" by Dusty Springfield - it's so closely linked to the scene in the movie that every time I hear it, I'm transported back to Mia Wallace's living room - and "Lonesome Town" by Ricky Nelson. They're totally different songs from each other, one fun and upbeat the other incredibly sad and mournful, but they work together with every other track to create one of the best soundtracks around.
Wonder Boys
Wonder Boys is the inspiration for this list - I've written about it a couple of times, but I wanted more. The delightful comedy/drama's soundtrack makes my list mostly because of two words: Bob Dylan. That's not to disparage the rest of the people involved, including all-time greats like Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, and John Lennon and solid artists like Van Morrison and Buffalo Springfield. They all have solid songs appear alongside Dylan's contributions, but none of them hold a candle to Dylan's stuff. "Shooting Star" and "Buckets of Rain" are mid-tier Dylan - which means they're better than most songs in general - but the real standouts are "Not Dark Yet" and "Things Have Changed". The former debuted on the album Time Out of Mind a few years prior to Wonder Boys and it's a near perfect song. The latter was composed specifically for the film and even had a terrific music video featuring scenes from the movie with Dylan inserted into them. "Things Have Changed" might be my all-time favorite Dylan song, but the competition is fierce and it depends on the day. Everything about it, from the music and lyrics to the theme and singing, is just magical and resulted in Dylan winning an Academy Award for Best Song. While he probably didn't need - or even particularly care about - another award, it's cool to know he's won just about everything a singer/songwriter can win. I'm probably in the minority with this opinion, but I much prefer Dylan's late career output with his gravely voice. These two songs are fantastic examples of just how incredible the man was, even in his fifth decade of work.
Well, there's my list! There were several more movies that were in the running and I probably could have come up with a Top 20, but I wanted to specifically highlight these ten. Music is such an important - and sometimes undervalued - part of the movie going experience and I hope to keep writing about it here again in the near future.
What are some of your favorite soundtracks? Please leave a comment and let me know!
Thanks for reading!